The use of bottled drinking water has dramatically increased in recent years to a level where the bottled drinking water business exceeds two billion dollars. The sales of bottled water has been increasing at such a rapid rate that by 1993 sales may be expected to reach five billion dollars. This dramatic increase in demand for bottled drinking water is attributable to various reasons, such as the dislike for the taste and the odor of conventional tap water. A further reason is distrust of the water supply.
There are approximately 450 bottling plants producing 600 different brand labels for bottled water in the United States. The general approach in providing such bottled water is to have municipally treated water filtered at a plant before bottling and delivery. The common form of using such bottled water is to provide the consumer with a large container, for example, a five gallon glass or plastic container which is detachably mounted to a refrigerating or chilling unit. This unit typically has a dispenser in the form of a spout through which the chilled water is dispensed into a cup or other container.
There are a number of drawbacks with this type of bottled water. For example, it is inconvenient and expensive to transport such large bottles of water to businesses, condos, apartment dwellers and other security minded businesses. In addition, consumers generally keep one spare bottle so that the consumer will not run out of water. As a consequence it is cumbersome to store the full and empty bottles. Moreover, such bottles are heavy to lift and handle for many consumers, such as women, elderly and handicapped. The consumers are also suspicious of questionable cleaning when the bottles are returnable.
It would be desirable if a low cost system could be provided for conveniently assuring a consumer that there would be a continuous supply of acceptable water without the drawbacks attendant conventional bottled water practices.